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Das Gepäck
Das Gepäck was a Dutch competitor robot that competed in the second series of Dutch Robot Wars. It also represented Germany in the UK vs Germany Special broadcast as part of both Robot Wars: The Sixth Wars and German Robot Wars. Due to its German name, it was credited as being a German robot despite hailing from the Netherlands, and went onto become the joint champion of the UK vs Germany special with the British Fluffy. Design Das Gepäck was a converted version of the original Alien Destructor. It was an invertible box-shaped robot with six wheels and relied on its high speed (contributed to by four 750W motors) and ramming spikes to defeat opponents. In this regard, it was very similar to the original Tornado, and was able to push the considerably heavier Ansgar's Revenge around the arena. The robot was painted to look like The Luggage, a large chest from the Discworld book series by Terry Pratchett. The team continued the magical theme from the books by wearing wizard hats (with 'great magician' and 'also' written on them in German) and claiming that the robot was powered by a black hole. Etymology Das Gepäck literally translates from German as The Luggage, with its German name allowing the robot to represent Germany in Robot Wars when it was in fact a Dutch machine. Robot History Dutch Series 2 Das Gepäck's first-round battle of the Dutch series was against Gravity. Das Gepäck chased after Gravity, which drove away down the arena, but Das Gepäck caught up, and started pushing at Gravity's side. Gravity escaped up the arena, with Das Gepäck following it. Gravity turned to get its flipper under Das Gepäck as it caught up, but Das Gepäck drove over it before Gravity could fire, so the flip missed. Das Gepäck reversed away from Sir Killalot, and Gravity followed, getting underneath its opponent and pushing it into the arena wall, where Gravity lifted it up to hold it still. Gravity then turned Das Gepäck away from the arena wall, and Das Gepäck got off Gravity's lifter as Gravity reversed. Das Gepäck charged in reverse at Gravity, but Gravity merely turned around, allowing it to reverse into Das Gepäck, pushing it into the bottom arena wall and pin it there. Gravity stopped pushing, and drove up the arena. Das Gepäck was close behind, and when it caught up with Gravity, it tried pushing it, but Gravity pushed back, forcing it into the arena wall by an empty CPZ, pinning it there. Sgt. Bash came into the CPZ, and Gravity let go, driving into the arena centre, with Das Gepäck chasing after it. Gravity turned and started chasing after Das Gepäck, trying to get its lifter under its opponent. Das Gepäck reversed away, but reversed too close to Sgt. Bash, and Gravity forced it into the claw of the House Robot and flipped it over. Das Gepäck tried to push its way past the House Robot, but Sgt. Bash pushed back against it, and as the two pushed against each other, Gravity came in again, and flipped Das Gepäck over. Sgt. Bash bit into Das Gepäck and pushed it against the wall, before releasing it. Das Gepäck escaped, and rammed into Gravity, but Gravity pushed it up the arena, pinning it against the top arena wall. Gravity reversed, and Das Gepäck chased after it as it tried to get away. Das Gepäck got behind Gravity and started pushing, but Gravity turned around and got under Das Gepäck, pushing it into Sgt. Bash's CPZ and flipping it against the wall. Das Gepäck was pushed off the wall by Sgt. Bash, and chased after Gravity, but time ran out. The Jury's decision was in favour of Gravity, and Das Gepäck was eliminated at this stage. German Series / UK Series 6 Although the robot was in fact Dutch, Das Gepäck represented Germany in the UK vs Germany Special and fought fellow German representative Ansgar's Revenge in Round 1. Das Gepäck started by charging at Ansgar's Revenge, but drove at the wrong angle, and wasn't able to push its opponent, so drove past and turned around for another attack. Despite its opponent's huge weight advantage, Das Gepäck rammed Ansgar's Revenge into Dead Metal's CPZ, who grabbed it, and cut into the steel bar, whilst Das Gepäck continued slamming it. Dead Metal released the shufflebot, but Ansgar's Revenge seemed to have stopped moving completely. Sir Killalot dragged Ansgar's Revenge out into the middle of the arena, where it still made very little movement. Das Gepäck opened the pit, then rammed Ansgar against the angle grinder, continuing to slam into it. Ansgar's Revenge began to show signs of movement, turning away from the angle grinder, causing Das Gepäck to miss a charge, but Das Gepäck kept ramming it, before pushing it into Sir Killalot. Das Gepäck stayed away as the House Robots attacked, before Sir Killalot pushed Ansgar's Revenge down the arena, leaving it near the pit. Das Gepäck pushed its opponent, but time ran out before Das Gepäck could pit it. Ansgar's Revenge had survived to the judges' decision, which went to Das Gepäck. In Round 2, Das Gepäck was drawn against the weapon-less Delldog for the right to fight the UK representative in the final. Das Gepäck charged at its opponent, but Delldog moved away before Das Gepäck could reach it. Das Gepäck turned around and tried to chase Delldog, but Delldog moved away up the arena, then turned around and slammed into Das Gepäck. Das Gepäck turned and tried to push at Delldog's side, but Delldog pushed back and turned away. Delldog got away from Das Gepäck, but Das Gepäck soon caught up, pushing it into Mr. Psycho's CPZ. Das Gepäck reversed as Mr. Psycho tried to pin Delldog against the top arena wall, and trapped it in the CPZ. Delldog managed to escape, driving around Mr. Psycho, but once it had escaped, Das Gepäck rammed it into Sgt. Bash's CPZ. Delldog was sliced by Sgt. Bash's pincer, and Das Gepäck opened the pit. Stuck on Sgt. Bash's pincer, Delldog was hammered by Mr. Psycho. Das Gepäck rammed Delldog into the top arena wall, and it became clear that Delldog was immobilised, so it was counted out by Refbot. With one push, Das Gepäck pushed the beaten machine into the pit. Das Gepäck was now through to the final to fight the UK, represented by Fluffy. Jonathan Pearce stated that Das Gepäck was a worthy finalist. In the final, both robots seemed tentative, avoiding each other at first, with Fluffy trying to get its spinner up to speed, and Das Gepäck trying to get in a good position to push whilst also avoiding the spinner. Das Gepäck tried pushing at Fluffy's side, but got a glancing blow from the spinner and quickly turned away for another attack. The two robots turned to face each other, and Fluffy hit the front of Das Gepäck, ripping one of Das Gepäck's from the front, leaving it hanging loose. The two robots turned away to line up another attack, and Das Gepäck tried ramming into Fluffy's side, but Fluffy turned away. As Das Gepäck tried to line up another attack, Fluffy got its spinner up to speed, and hit Das Gepäck's side a couple of times, but no damage was done. Fluffy chased after Das Gepäck, which kept its distance, but then turned around and rammed into the front of Fluffy, knocking Fluffy aside. Fluffy turned around and hit Das Gepäck, knocking off a piece of armour, but as it did so it drove onto the flame pit. Fluffy got off, but its spinner slowed down, and when Das Gepäck rammed into it, the blade stopped. Das Gepäck tried pushing Fluffy, but it reversed, having only managed to push it a little. Fluffy kept its distance from Das Gepäck, and then turned around, and Das Gepäck got at the side of Fluffy again and started pushing. However, Das Gepäck's buckled spike slipped, causing it to lose its traction on Fluffy. Fluffy turned and escaped. Das Gepäck activated the pit instead, and then chased after Fluffy, which was able to avoid its opponent. However, Fluffy drove into Sgt. Bash, which was out of this CPZ, and this allowed Das Gepäck to catch up. The two robots entered a pushing match near the pit. Fluffy resisted, getting its axe beneath Das Gepäck and allowing it to push back. Das Gepäck ducked around the pit, trying to lure Fluffy towards it, but the Fluffy team did not fall for this trick. Das Gepäck charged up the arena and tried to push Fluffy into Sgt. Bash, but got too close and nearly got crushed by the pincer itself. Das Gepäck swiftly reversed out of Sgt. Bash's grasp and pushed back into Fluffy a couple of times, only managing to pushing them a little each time. Fluffy drove away, but drove close to flame pit, allowing Das Gepäck to push it onto the flame pit. Fluffy escaped just before time ran out. In a shock move, the Judges ruled that the fight was a draw, much to the annoyance of the crowd. The Das Gepäck team were given the trophy, though it was promised that the Fluffy team would have one made up for them as well. Results |} Wins/Losses *Dutch Wins: 0 *Dutch Losses: 1 *German / UK Wins: 2 *German / UK Losses: 0 *German / UK Draws: 1 Series Record Dutch Series AD2001.png|Alien Destructor in 2001, whilst being converted into Das Gepäck Wizards.png|The team with their wizard hats DGlogo.jpg|The Das Gepäck logo in the pits DGblackhole.jpg|The black hole in Das Gepäck DGtrophy.jpg|Das Gepäck in the pits with the UK vs Germany Special trophy DG2003fight.png|Das Gepäck fighting Hard in 2003 DGKoudekerk03.png|Das Gepäck fighting Hammerhead 2 in 2003 German Series Outside Robot Wars Das Gepäck continued to fight in live events in Holland in 2003, entering Dutch Robot Games where it fought Hard, Hammerhead 2 and Gravity. Das Gepäck briefly fought in the 2007 UK Championships after Robot Wars had finished, but fell in the heats to Kan-Opener and lost in the Losers' Melee to Velocirippa and Envy. Trivia *To go with their claim that the robot was powered by a black hole, the team had a transparent cover over the internals, which had a picture of a black hole painted on. References Honours Category:Dutch Robots Category:Dutch Series competitors Category:International event only competitors in the UK Series Category:Side Competition Winners Category:German Representatives Category:Robots with Spikes Category:Robots with more Wins than Losses Category:Robots that drew in a battle Category:International event only competitors in the German Series Category:International Event Winners Category:Robots with names based on literature